Wisconsin Sports Headlines - 5/14/2020

14-May-2020

The Latest Sports Headlines:

>>NBA Players Want To Return … “If It Is Safe To Do So”

(Undated) -- NBA players say they want to return to action, but only “if it is safe to do so.” The players union formed a joint committee of staff members and players like Kyle Lowry, Chris Paul, Dwight Powell, Jayson Tatum and Russell Westbrook. Player responses were overwhelmingly in favor of resuming the season and completing a full playoff schedule. They also emphasized worries about safety. Starting Friday, NBA teams are going to start withholding 25 percent of each player’s paycheck.

>>Packers James Looney Transforming Body For Switch To TE

(Green Bay, WI) -- Third-year Packers player James Looney has spent the off-season transforming his body as he gets ready for a position switch. Coach Matt LaFleur and general manager Brian Gutekunst asked the defensive lineman to move to tight end for the 2020 season. Sports Illustrated is reporting Looney has lost more than 30 pounds – from 287 to 256 – as part of the process. At 287 he had shown potential with a four-point-89 timing in the 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine. LaFleur says Looney did such a good job on the scout team last season while lining up at tight end he caught the eye of the Packers coaches.

>>Badgers Football Offers Scholarship To 3-Star Wide Receiver

(Madison, WI) -- The competition is fierce, but the Wisconsin Badgers are in the mix for three-star wide receiver prospect Omar Cooper of Lawrence High School in Indianapolis. Cooper’s a 2022 prospect just approaching his junior year. As a sophomore, he had 13 touchdowns on 53 catches good for one-thousand-24 yards. Recruiters say he is fast and tough, but at 160 pounds, he’s going to have to gain weight. Video shows the six-foot-one athlete has good hands.

>>Badgers Volleyball Recruiting Class Ranked #4 Nationally

(Madison, WI) -- Two national organizations rank the Wisconsin Badgers’ volleyball recruiting class fourth in the nation. VolleyballMag-dot-com and PrepVolleyball are impressed by the four new members. Jade Demps is a six-foot-two outside hitter from Raleigh, North Carolina. She is joined by M-J Hammill, a setter from Greenwood, Indiana, Devin Robinson, a middle blocker from Ankeny, Iowa, and Deahna Kraft, an outside hitter-defensive specialist who comes to Madison after completing her beach career at Pepperdine University. Border rival Minnesota's recruiting class was actually ranked even higher -- first on one of the websites and second on the other.